AT&T Mobile 5G Headed to Dallas, Atlanta, Waco

The carrier today named three of the 12 cities where it plans to launch super-fast, low latency mobile 5G service service by the end of the year.

Residents of Dallas, Atlanta, and Waco, Texas, will be among the first to try out AT&T's upcoming mobile 5G service.

AT&T last month first revealed plans to launch the super-fast mobile service in a dozen cities by the end of 2018. Now, the carrier has named three of those locations; it plans toannounce others "in the coming months."

"Ultimately, we expect to reach theoretical peak speeds of multiple gigabits per second on devices through mobile 5G," the company wrote in a Wednesday blog post. "While speed is important, we also expect to see much lower latency rates." Latency refers to the length of time it takes a network to recognize you've requested data and to start sending it.

Related Articles

To make this plan a reality, AT&T is opening a new 5G lab in Austin, where it will test the technology. In this new lab, AT&T engineers will "build and test creative solutions and run 'stress tests' – simulating real-world customer experiences – with mobile 5G network equipment and devices from multiple vendors before they are rolled out to customers," AT&T wrote.

Last year, AT&T unveiled "5G Evolution," but that was largely marketing lingo and not true 5G. This upcoming effort will be true mobile 5G, and will "unlock a number of new, exciting experiences" related to virtual reality, self-driving cars, and 4K video, AT&T said.

"We expect future 5G technologies will eventually allow future driverless vehicles to make real-time decisions based on information that goes beyond the individual sensors onboard the vehicle itself," AT&T said last month. "Vehicles will be able to 'see' around corners, through other vehicles, and at longer distances. This will enable vehicles to quickly make sense of their environment and help guide safe operations on the road."

About the Author

Angela has been a PCMag reporter since January 2012. Prior to joining the team, she worked as a reporter for SC Magazine, covering everything related to hackers and computer security. Angela has also written for The Northern Valley Suburbanite in New Jersey, The Dominion Post in West Virginia, and the Uniontown-Herald Standard in Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of West Virginia University's Perely Isaac Reed School of Journalism. See Full Bio